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Tag Archives: Game Boy

I love singing. I really love it. I also love the band Queen. You know who else love singing and Queen? Sony, because they’ve released Singstar Queen. 20 songs with one of the best bands the world’s got to offer and Playstation 2 and 3-owners are the ones who’s got dibs. Why I mention this, you ask? Because I’m a Nintendo-owner, that’s why! Darn, what I wouldn’t do to sing the songs Freddy Mercury once entertained people with and pretend for a second the whole band was in my livingroom, singing and playing along… oh well, Playstation-products are usually so expensive, I guess they could use a break or two and they sure came up with an excellent way to get a few extra buyers their way. If I ever get a chance to play the game (pun intended), I’ll definetely take it. If you can’t have it all, you can at least pray for a shot at it…

In other news, Nintendo’s finally realized the point with USB-ports and SD-cards, because they’ve altered Nintendo DS Lite with some more neccesary details. This new NDS, called Nintendo DSi, has 2 built-in cameras, an SD-slot and can now run as an MP3-player. If there’s anything we’ll miss, it’s the old GBA-cartridge slot (even though it couldn’t handle anything older than the games for Game Boy Advance), but Nintendo has promised to let Nintendo DSi-owners download their old favorites directly to their consoles the same way Nintendo Wii-owners do. The Wii has a shopping channel, where players can download games in exchange for points and the NDSi will have a similar system. The question is how fast it will take for the cyber-pirates to get their roms working on their consoles. Will they play it illegal and download everything they know and love, or will they play it legal and cough up the cash for some extra points? If I can run ScummVM on it (lighten up, Nintendo, there are freeware games to download for ScummVM), I’m happy.

My family spent this Christmas on a train to Stockholm this year. In exchange for using my laptop, my brother let me try out his Nintendo DS, which was an unusual experience. I grew up with Game Boy and am a proud owner of both a Game Boy Color and a Game Boy Advance, so this was definetely something else. I’ve tried Nintendo DS before (my classmates have them), so playing it wasn’t any news to me, but to use one on a trip was new to me, which gave me a traveller’s perspective of it. Now, the Game Boys can be pretty clumsy and take up a lot of space in the carry-on luggage. The Nintendo DS, however, takes up as much space as a pocket mirror, which is excellent when you bring a tiny purse or decide to stick with the inner-pocket of your jacket. Then we have the games. Forget the thumb-muscles, the pen’s the ruler now! With a pen as the control device, the gameplay’s a lot more different than on the Game Boys. The pen’s a lot more quiet than the buttons, so that’s something, but losing it during the trip is not an option you want to live with. Good thing I never lost my brother’s pen, because he’d never let me hear the end of it. Another problem with the Nintendo DS was the microphone. Sure, I don’t mind talking to a game console on the train, but there are bad things about it too. As I was playing The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, my brother told me about a screaming competition somewhere in the game. Screaming in commute vehicles is where I cross the line. The other passengers are going to be stuck with you for at least 30 minutes, so why bother them with noise you wouldn’t be able to stand yourself? Nintendo should’ve added room for a headset on the Nintendo DS, because you never know when you need one.

As for The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, it’s a fun game to play and will surely take you back to the past. Too bad they ruined the feeling of Zelda with the childish graphics. Even the characters looked like they came from a childish version of Grim Fandango. As a matter of fact, the ship repairman on the first island looks EXACTLY like Glottis (the yellow demon in Grim Fandango)! I hope my brother lends me his Nintendo DS again soon so I can finish the game to the end, because I’m certainly enjoying the fact that I have to litteraly blow out the candles in the game!